Art Forms

Women Artists

Anita Steckel: Art, Sex, and Politics

Anita Steckel was a feminist artist of the late 20th century who pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable. Her art and beliefs were...

Errika Gerakiti 17 January 2023

Surrealism

(Sur)reality in the Photography of Kati Horna

Kati Horna (1912-2000) photographed both the real world and the surreal. She was a modern photographer who used her camera to document a civil war...

Natalia Tiberio 17 January 2023

Anonymous, Exvoto of the miracle done to Maria Gertrudis Castañeda, 1840, Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones, Mexico City, Mexico. North American Art

Ex-voto: The Mexican Art of Gratitude

When tragedy or misfortune happens, some people turn to a greater power. The possibility of divine intervention gives them hope. Usually, these...

Jimena Escoto 16 January 2023

Romanticism

William Blake’s Demonic Red Dragon

William Blake was a great artist, poet and engraver of the Romantic Age. But he died penniless, scorned by his contemporaries and the art establishment. Take a look at one of his most famous works: The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun.

Candy Bedworth 16 January 2023

Cornelis Saftleven, Who Sues for a Cow?, 1629, oil on wood panel, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Who Sues for a Cow by Cornelis Saftleven

Who Sues for a Cow is a masterpiece of social commentary by now-forgotten artist, Cornelis Saftleven. It is a strange painting from the Dutch Golden...

James W Singer 16 January 2023

Medieval Art

Here Be Medieval Dragons

Dragons are everywhere in popular culture. People make movies about them, collect stuffed animals of them, and dress up as them for Halloween. They...

Alexandra Kiely 16 January 2023

Women Artists

Four Female Court Painters You Did Not Know

Throughout history, art has always played an important role in royal propaganda across Europe. Royal families were in a race to employ the best...

Gokce Dyson 16 January 2023

Asian Art

Edo Period in 10 Words and 4 Schools of Painting

Edo period in Japan lasted from 1603 to 1867/1868. During this time the country was ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate. Those 250 years were a time of...

Joanna Kaszubowska 15 January 2023

Impressionism

Julie Manet – The Eternal Beauty of Impressionism

Julie Manet – called the beauty of Impressionism – was the daughter of the wealthy, well-connected painter Berthe Morisot and Eugène Manet,...

Pola Otterstein 14 January 2023

Haarlem in the Dutch Golden Age: Frans Hals, Banquet of the Officers of the St Adrian Civic Guard (the Calivermen), 1627, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands. Baroque

4 Surprising Facts About Haarlem in the Dutch Golden Age

The city of Haarlem in the Netherlands was one of the flourishing art centers in the 16th and 17th century. Today, you can walk the streets of the...

Rachel Witte 13 January 2023

Animals

Holy Cow! Why Did the Dutch Painters Love Cows?

Every time I look at 17th-century Dutch paintings, I ask myself the same question: why do they always show cows? You will probably think this is a...

Magda Michalska 13 January 2023

Artist Stories

The Dutch Master of Selfies: Rembrandt’s 6 Magnificent Self-Portraits

Rembrandt van Rijn, one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art, was born 416 years ago in Leiden, Netherlands. Today, people take...

Zuzanna Stańska 13 January 2023